Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, said Bitcoin’s recent advance is reviving the asset’s original hedge function.
Sigel said the move is tied mainly to worries about US fiscal policy rather than progress in crypto legislation.
Sigel ties Bitcoin move to larger Treasury bond buybacks
He connected Bitcoin’s price action to the US Treasury’s decision to expand long-dated bond buybacks. According to Sigel, the size of each operation increased from $2 billion to at least $4 billion. He said the shift pushed yields lower and helped fuel a broader rebound in risk appetite.
Limited impact seen from the CLARITY Act
Sigel also downplayed the effect of the CLARITY Act, a crypto market structure bill advancing in Congress. He said that although Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has voiced optimism that the bill will pass, prediction markets still assign low odds to it becoming law this year. In Sigel’s view, that is why the latest rally is not linked to the bill’s progress.
Bitcoin briefly reached $72,757
Bitcoin at one point rose to $72,757, with roughly $3 billion in forced short liquidations adding to the move.
Bitcoin’s hedge record has been mixed
The report said Bitcoin’s historical performance as a hedge has been uneven. During the 2020 COVID market crash and the 2022 rate-hike cycle, its correlation with US stocks increased rather than declined. Academic research, according to the report, suggests that this pattern is more typical during periods of market stress.
Sigel’s argument around dollar debasement also revives Bitcoin’s original pitch as an alternative to the fiat monetary system, though this time the focus is on sovereign debt management rather than direct money printing.
The item was published by Techub and cited BeInCrypto.